Victoria man faces more child pornography charges

A Victoria man was reindicted Thursday on child pornography-related charges.

Jason Terrence Leita, 37, was named in 17 counts of possession or promotion of child pornography.

Leita was indicted in January on eight counts of possession or promotion of child pornography after police suspected he was stealing his neighbor's Wi-Fi to commit the offense.

That case will be dismissed, Victoria County Criminal District Attorney Stephen Tyler said.

That's because this new indictment includes those charges plus nine others. It is also more specific about what each image depicts, Tyler said.

A person is presumed to be promoting child pornography if police discover more than six images on his or her computer.

It is a second-degree felony, and each indictment is punishable by two to 20 years in prison with a possible $10,000 fine.

Assistant district attorneys Johna Stallings and Pink Dickens will try the case.

Leita retained M.P. "Dexter" Eaves as his defense attorney for the January case, but Eaves could not be reached for comment Friday.

Leita is charged with exchanging the images with others on a site similar to Napster using his neighbor's Wi-Fi. He was arrested Aug. 1 by a joint task force made up of Victoria County Sheriff's Office deputies and Victoria Police Department officers.

What happened to Leita's neighbor is not unusual, said sheriff's Sgt. Daniel Simons, the task force commander.

He said more companies are making wireless routers that are already encryption enabled. That means a person must enter a password to access the Internet, he said.